That's interesting. After racking my brains out it also occured to me that a one way principle was in play. I use Tally-Ho's. Tally-Ho's have a built in one way principle. But if the deck is borrowed and shuffled, there can't be a set up, or starting point.All I can say is that the feat was incredible. I'll look further into the one way principle in an impromptu situation.

10 minutes later...

I just looked into it.While Tally-Ho's are cut so that the border on the short ends has a thicker and thiner surface (making for a one way), this does not match up with the red or black face.

In other words, if all thin borders were pointing the same way, some would be black face, others would be red face.

Unless there is another one way principle in Tally-Ho's I'm not aware of..

I'm aware of that, Pete, but I checked everything; Belt buckles, wrist watch, rings (wasn't wearing one), patent leather shoes (his were dull leather) clear nail polish, and nothing could constitute an effective shiner.All I can say is it was the closest thing to second sight I've ever seen up close. I believe this is one of those "underground, secret inner circle" things we are just not privy to.Borrowed, shuffled deck of Tally-Ho's.

Your reaction reminds me of how I FEEL about magic. On one hand I love it- wonderful things happen which I have no explaination, things that CANNOT take place, but do; and on the other hand I hate it- I know I was probably bamboozled, and now have TO KNOW how I was tricked. In other words: there is no magic. A constant Love/Hate relationship. How do we magicians keep our sanity? You're obviously going a little insane right now, and, I'm sure, love it and hate it. Are we having FUN yet?

I don't know HOW this guy knew which cards were red and black. From the bare bones description you give it sounds like this individual performs this trick often and probably uses a method of his own devise or was taught the method by someone else's own devise. If this is NOT the case, off the top of my head, this effect could be accomplished by: Sleight-of-hand (corner bends, switched-in cards --don't laugh!), Shiners (as already mentioned), Deck Switches (memorized deck, marked cards --or oneway), or use of a Confederate (help to switch deck/or cards, relay info). I know you have stressed "borrowed" which leads me to go with the Sleight method. (Did he consistently hold the cards a "certain way"? If not, I would go with the Deck Switch method. Did he go right into the effect or was there a disarming "get to know you" pause between the borrowing of the deck and the effect?

Now, I could be totally off base on any of these methods. And if this IS something completely original (which I suspect) you're going to have to ask him for the secret. (I would take him out to dinner with full knowledge that the dinner is for the giving of the secret.) Then again, if this guy is a knowledgeable magi- the question remains: what method was he using. If he is a GOOD magician he would be using nearly all of the above techniques interchangeably. (Which pretty much destroys even well versed magicians of discovering the secret(s).) And if he is a REALLY GOOD MAGICIAN he would have included dramatic presentation points and would have made you believe, without a doubt, he possessed second sight. i.e. a card reading from a spectators' hands- from the other side of the room!, a reading from a sealed envelope, or even a read from a "burned-up" card- would show tremendous dramatic skills; therefore a most talented magician. But, it appears none of this took place.

It is most likely his best trick, and one he accidently discovered he could fool people with- including magicians! Don't you LOVE it?

Great post Steve,1) He is a full time professional and an excellent technician.2)never in a million years would he tell me the secret (respectfully, I'm a full timer too. There's a conflict, ya see)3) It was absolutely, positively a borrowed deck with no deck switches. I had thought perhaps he arranged my deck on an off beat during the evening,(but there was the Faro I know I gave it seconds before the feat.)He made two mistakes out of about 25, but my guess is these were feints.It was performed one on one and at no time did he leave my presence before or afterward.

At one point I was handing him cards. Another zinger!!!

I will say this: he did appear to give a forward bend to a portion of the deck before he began, although this may have been in my imagination. But even so, a forward bend would not undo a Faro shuffle, and would give him little knowledge without a look at the cards, which I would swear there was none.

The cards were not, I repeat, were not held in his hands. They were spread on my bedroom floor.

These are the facts from another experienced magi, not a layman retelling an effect all out of proportion.

Hi, Not quite the efect in question but Vernon had an effect where he took a borrowed deck and the spectaror shuffled it. The spectator then hands the magician 4 red cards and 4 black cards which are then freely shuffled together by the spectator and handed to the magician face down. The magician takes the packet behind his back and correctly detects red or black by touch alone.

At no time does the magician see the faces of any of the cards until after he has named the colour.

I have used this effect to great success and it can be found in one of the inner secrets trilogy. As for which one of the book it is..well, I shall let you hunt through them to find it because you would miss so many other great Vernon effects in them if you went straight to that effect.

Under his items to buy he has an item called 'Sense of Touch' might not be what your friend used, unless he got a pre-release from Ian but from the description it would come pretty close. I am awaiting the release with anticipation!